Certifications Under Moratorium

The following certifications were placed under moratorium by the RID Board of Directors, effective January 1, 2016, and are not currently being awarded.

Restarting the awarding of these certifications is dependent upon

RID operationalizing the 2007 member motion regarding establishment of criteria for recognizing tests other than RID’s – such as Boys Town, BEI, or some other non-RID or CASLI created testing tool

The adoption of this criteria by the RID certified membership

Application of these entities for recognition of their test, and compliance of the test with the approved criteria

If and when these events happen, then the RID Board could determine lifting the moratorium on the appropriate certifications.

In the meantime, those that already have these certifications will continue to be recognized as RID-certified. The moratorium does not affect those who already have the credential – only those who desire to gain it now.

Educational Certificate: K-12 (Ed:K-12)

This credential is fully recognized by RID, but the designation is no longer awarded by RID. This designation went into moratorium effective January 1, 2016.

Holders of this certification demonstrated the ability to interpret or transliterate classroom content and discourse between students who are deaf and hard of hearing and students, teachers and school staff who are hearing. Certificants demonstrated EIPA Level 4* skills using spoken English and at least one of the following visual languages, constructs, or symbol systems at either an elementary or secondary level:

American Sign Language (ASL)

Manually Coded English (MCE)

Contact Signing (aka: Pidgin Signed English (PSE) or English-like Signing)

Cued American English (CAE) (aka: Cued Speech)

This credential was offered from 2007 to 2016.

Specialist Certificate: Legal (SC:L)

This credential is fully recognized by RID, but the designation is no longer awarded by RID. This designation went into moratorium effective January 1, 2016.

Description: Holders of this specialist certification demonstrated specialized knowledge of legal settings and greater familiarity with language used in the legal system. These individuals are recommended for a broad range of assignments in the legal setting. This credential was offered from 1998 to 2016.

The SC:L, and specialist testing in general, are topics of investigation as part of the 2016-2018 Certification Committee Scope Of Work.

Oral Transliteration Certificate

This credential is fully recognized by RID, but the designation is no longer awarded by RID. This designation went into moratorium effective January 1, 2016.

Description: Holders of this certification demonstrated, using silent oral techniques and natural gestures and the ability to transliterate a spoken message from a person who hears to a person who is deaf or hard-of-hearing. Holders also demonstrated the ability to understand and repeat the message and intent of the speech and mouth movements of the person who is deaf or hard-of-hearing. This credential was offered from 1999 to 2016.

This credential was originally voted into sunset by the RID Board at the in-person Board Meeting at the RID NOLA National Conference, in August of 2015.

At the RID NOLA Business Meeting, a motion was made to move the credential from “sunset” status to “moratorium”. Here is the member motion:

FROM THE MINUTES OF THE 2015 BUSINESS MEETING:
C2015.11
Primary submitter(s) name(s): William Gorum
Secondary submitter(s) name(s): Margaret Austin

Move that the RID Board of Director’s decision to ʺsunsetʺ the Oral Transliteration certificate be vetoed via a vote of the organization’s membership and to place the OTC testing program under moratorium along with all other RID certification examinations until further investigation can be done into options other than the cessation of administration of the OTC exam.

Rationale:
RID is the only nationally recognized organization who certifies oral transliterators. People who are deaf that prefer to use oral communication methods should have access to trained, qualified, and certified interpreters. The RID mission statement is to ʺpromote excellence in interpretation services among diverse users of signed and spoken languages through professional development, networking, advocacy, and standardsʺ.

Estimated Fiscal Impact Statement:
Vetoing the Board’s motion and placing the OTC under moratorium until further options are explored would have minimal financial impact on RID.

Organizational Remarks:

Board of Directors Comments:

Bylaws Committee Comments:

Headquarters Comments:

Professional Development Committee Comments:

Member Comments:

In response to a point, President Whitcher cited a bylaw (Article 3, Section 3d) which says that Board decisions can be overturned by a 2/3 vote.

Betty Colonomos moved to table this discussion, seconded by Wink Smith. This motion does not entertain discussion, so a vote was taken. With 91 votes in support, 146 opposed and 12 abstentions, the motion to table fails.

Artie Grassman called the question, seconded by Audrey Rosenberg. A vote was taken, and debate was closed.

A vote was taken, and, with a 2/3 majority being needed to pass, the motion received 210 votes in support, 56 opposed, and 21 abstentions, so the motion C2015.11 carries.